Why it Pays to be Privileged

Politicians continually tell us that anyone can get ahead in Britain, regardless of their background. But is that really true? This research project takes readers behind the closed doors of elite employers to reveal the truth about how class background affects who gets to the top.

Key Facts

Case Studies

‘The Class Pay Gap in Higher Professional and Managerial Occupations’

A talk at the University of California, Berkeley, February 16th 2016

Knowledge Exchange

‘Mobile’

Award-winning theatre company The Paper Birds recently drew upon our research to write ‘Mobile’, a play that probes how people experience upward social mobility The play uses anonymised data from our narrative accounts of social mobility, and the class pay gap, to create a fictionalised drama. The play is currently touring nationally and a video about the making of the play can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS5zvuoqWvs

This project has been funded by ESRC and LSE

Upcoming Events

The Class Ceiling - a section at the bottom of each page to add a "Call to Action" - perhaps advertise play / book?